GSC: “Stalker 2 is currently in development”

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A tweet from the usually rather quiet GSC Stalker Twitter account has assured us that the game is still being worked on. It’s the first word we’ve had on the development of game since January, when we heard that they were seeking funding for the project following the studio’s collapse. That they’ve lasted until now, and that they’re speaking positively, is encouraging, but I don’t doubt that it’ll be a struggle to get the game out the door: the first game was a massive struggle with publisher support. I wonder if crowd-finding an AAA game the size of Stalker 2 is possible? If only Kickstarter would allow non-US funding, they could have all my money.

I only started playing STALKER games recently, and I feel kind of guitly for buying them really cheap off Amazon when they clearly deserved more of my cash. Game companies should set up donation methods for people who pirated/bought late and now want to pay over the current retail price straight to the devs.

A stalker 2 kickstarter campaign would be a roaring success. I’d happily donate £30. + We’d get to see screenshots of WIP, which would make me very very happy. If only! I really hope Stalker 2 makes it across the finish line without any painful delays, it’s one modern game series that simply must continue! It’s critical to PC gaming.

I asked via twitter if they will do fan-funding if money is the issue. I loved the first game and I have the others waiting for once I finish my programing for my game and can block out the week. This is one of the few games I would gladly pay the premium $40-$60 for instead of waiting a few months for the 50% reduction in price.

1) The “@GSCstalker” Twitter account isn’t operated by anyone directly involved with GSC, and much like the tweets put out originally they don’t seem to be based on facts or any sort of inside knowledge. Consider it a fan-account.

2) Based on posts I’ve seen by the moderator of the English GSC forum (who has rather more insight into the situation) the dev team are indeed still working on the project in some capacity, but they aren’t being payed and there doesn’t seem to have been any developments regarding future funding. Sergey Grigorovich seems to have allowed them to continue with the project provided they can find outside funding, but he seems to have no interest in funding it any further himself.

Joe[GSC] doesn’t have anything to do with the forums, all he does is operate the Facebook and Twitter accounts. The forum moderator is Don Reba, and he seems to have some direct contact with the dev team.

The wonderful thing about this is, that I’m a big fan of the stalker series, yet I have only touched the first game. I must finish all the games one day, and there is more stalker goodness yet to come, yes!

Call of Pripyat is a bit more human and welcoming. You might like it since it eases into the hellish inflection of SotC (the one from 2007) in the final stretch of the game, but isn’t as smothering. SotC is the real winner in that regard, but CoP has its share tense combat and a lot more manshooting things, combined with a marginal improvement on the melancholy post-soviet look the series goes for with its environments and buildings. The texture packs and weather overhaul (atmosfear 3) also make the game quite a looker in the technical sense too, but up the system requirements a bit. Just make sure you have ~4GB of RAM and a good, modern GPU. It should be fine.

My objection is that kickstarter is a corporate donation. It’s not an investment, which is a much more favorable transaction to the people shelling out, obviously. Kickstarter itself was intended to be used for existing projects that needed, well, a Kickstarter for distributing or assembling a prototype. To that end, I think it’s a neat idea, although a bit odd, given that most gamers aren’t made of money or investors at all in the US. This current trend with indie developers is worrisome, at least from an American capitalism perspective, because there’s no incentive to spend the kickstarter fund to the fullest extent to make the game.

Have there been any successes with Kickstarter yet? I know there have been plenty of Kickstarters bringing in plenty of money… but have any of the big Kickstarter projects, with games you want to play, come to fruition, to completion yet?

It’ll be worth the wait. Just like the first 3 games. Plus there are numerous mods to chew on, including ones with things from the early alpha stage where the game was vastly more ambitious. fyi SotC was scheduled for release in 2004 originally